Libya is a nation situated on the northern coast of Africa. Libya has a long history, and has been taken over by many nationalities, including Phoenecians and Punics, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Lazians. Through that period, the Berber people survived, now still representing a large minority of Libyans. Religions have fluctuated, too. Indigenous Berber beliefs lost ground to the Greek and Roman pantheon, which lost out to Christianity. Then, in the 600s, the Islamic invasions began. Over the next few centuries, it became largely Arabized, with some Berber holdouts. Then, in the 1500s, the Papal States gained power and converted (forcibly or not) most of the population to Catholic Christianity. However, some Muslims remained in the Fezzan region. Libya was directly ruled by the pope until the Republic of Lazio was formed and took Libya as a colony with it. Finally, in 1947, Libya was free from Lazio, and in 1951 became self-governing.